'Red Dead Redemption 2' news: Title to be turned into a franchise?

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While it is still unclear when "Red Dead Redemption 2" will be released, the title itself seems to be confirmed already. According to speculations, Rockstar Games wants the title to become another franchise, and releasing titles from a second installment onward is already guaranteed.

According to Crossmap, a recent interview with Rockstar Games co-founder Strauss Zelnick confirmed "Red Dead Redemption 2." Zelnick hinted that the title will become a permanent franchise for the company.

The Rockstar Games co-founder stated, "I pretty much know the ones that I can assure you are permanent. It's obvious that 'GTA' is a permanent franchise as long as we keep delivering this incredible quality; it seems quite obvious that 'Red Dead' is a permanent franchise, again with the same caveat, or 'Borderlands,' for example, and 'NBA' and others."

Meanwhile, although there is still no formal announcement from Rockstar Games on the title itself, the sequel will reportedly be dubbed "Red Dead Redemption 2: Legends of the West." According to Latinos Health, the information came from a former Rockstar Games employee. Allegedly, the ex-employee has an axe to grind with the management and decided to come out prematurely with some information about the upcoming title.

In addition, while Rockstar Games has yet to officially announce the title, Master Herald said that the rumor mills mentioned the developer started to work on the sequel immediately after the original "Red Dead Redemption" was released in 2011.

Since it has already been too long, the industry follower maintained that "Red Dead Redemption 2" is already in its final stages of development and may roll out before 2016 ends. The report also mentioned a leak stating that "Red Dead Redemption 2" will have three additional playable characters. The first two, Irish and Seth, will reportedly be treasure hunters and will meet each other in Tumbleweed, Texas. Meanwhile, the third playable character will be created by players, and will act as a gun-for-hire in the story.